Semiconductor device manufacturers are constantly striving to increase the performance of their products, while decreasing their cost of manufacture. A cost intensive area in the manufacture of semiconductor devices is packaging the semiconductor chips. As those skilled in the art are aware, integrated circuits are fabricated in wafers, which are then singulated to produce semiconductor chips. One or more semiconductor chips are placed in a package to protect them from environmental and physical stresses. Packaging semiconductor chips increases the cost and complexity of manufacturing semiconductor devices because the packaging designs not only provide protection, they also permit transmission of electrical signals to and from the semiconductor chips and, in particular, removal of heat generated by the semiconductor chips.
In order to allow electrical access to the integrated circuits in the semiconductor chips, copper layers are deposited on the semiconductor chips. The copper layers may, however, be subject to oxidation which impedes subsequent manufacturing processes, such as die bonding, wire bonding and molding.